24 May 04. DRS Tactical Systems Inc., Palm Bay, Fla., was awarded on May 21, 2004,a delivery order amount of $18m as part of a $97,506,000 firm-fixed-price contract for Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below Appliqué Computer Hardware. Work will be performed in Palm Bay, Fla., and is expected to be completed by May 21, 2004. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were two bids solicited on Feb. 24, 2004, and two bids were received. The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, Fort Monmouth, N.J., is the contracting activity (W15P7T-04-D-G204).

25 May 04. Northrop Grumman has been awarded a contract by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) consisting of three projects to engineer interoperable wireless geospatial solutions. The company’s Information Technology (IT) sector will develop and implement a situational awareness capability that provides location information enabled by secure wireless connectivity.

24 May 04. The Pentagon on Monday said it planned to sell 59 General Dynamics Corp. M1A1 Abrams Integrated Management tanks and related equipment to Australia in a deal valued at up to $475m. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said it notified Congress about the deal on Friday, giving lawmakers 30 days in which to block the deal — a move considered highly unlikely. Under the deal, Australia would buy 59 tanks, 7 M88A1 medium recovery vehicles, 80 AN/VRC-92F dual long-range Single Channel Ground and Air Radio Systems, 146 night vision goggles, 73 M2 machine guns, and other equipment. DSCA said the proposed sale would aid U.S. national security by helping improve Australia’s security and enhancing its ability to operate jointly with U.S. Army and Marine Corps units for the next 25 years. (Source: Reuters)

27 May 2004. BAE Systems Avionics Group has been awarded a £17m contract for the supply of the Self-Defence Weapon station (SDW) for the Future Command and Liaison Vehicle (FCLV) programme by Alvis Vickers Limited. The contract covers the supply of 326 SDWs to the programme and includes options for up to 400 additional sets of equipment. This follows the earlier selection of BAE Systems as the preferred supplier at the end of December 2003. The Surveillance and Target Acquisition Weapon Sight (STAWS) utilises BAE Systems’ own world leading uncooled Thermal Imaging technology, and represents the largest contract ever let in the UK for this type of equipment.

25 May 04. DRS Technologies, EW & Network Systems, Buffalo, N.Y., is being awarded a $14,327,247 contract to provide for production quantities of Unmanned Threat Emitters in the- configuration (2 each), the 1 configuration (1 each), the 2 configuration (2 each), and Remote Power Units (2 each). Design and develop the Threat Kit- 5 Remote Emitter (2 each), and Infrared Camera capability (1 each), and Crew Debriefing capabilities (1 each). Also contracting for installation of upgrade kits on Legacy Remote Emitters (8 each) and the on-site integration of Remote Emitters (10 each) into the Yukon range at Eielson Air Force Base AK. The requisite technical data will be procured. At this time, $7,163,624 of the funds has been obligated. This work will be complete October 2006. Solicitations began and negotiations were complete May 2004. The Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8217-04-C-0020).

24 May 04. ABRO (formerly the Army Base Repair Organisation) has been invited, by the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO), to tender for the refurbishment, modification and conversion of FV430 vehicles. The tender requires 500 vehicles of all variants to be refurbished over four years from April 2005, with two further option periods for an estimated 200 vehicles each. Assuming an acceptable tender, Alvis Vehicles would act in a sub-contractor capacity. The tender is due to be returned by 28 Jun 04. Comment: Over 3,000 FV430 were built, by GKN Defence, of which